Attention all Knifemakers!.....Product dealers/retailers and/or knife makers/sharpeners/hobbyists (etc) are not permitted to insert business related text/videos/images (company/company name/product references) and/or links into your signature line, your homepage url (within the homepage profile box), within any posts, within your avatar, nor anywhere else on this site. Market research (such as asking questions regarding or referring to products/services that you make/offer for sale or posting pictures of finished projects) is prohibited. These features are reserved for supporting vendors and hobbyists.....Also, there is no need to announce to the community that you are a knifemaker unless you're trying to sell something so please refrain from sharing.
Thanks for your co-operation!

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I have a lot to say about all this. I live and work in LA, which is home to normal people, as well as some of the most unreasonable, entitled, narcissistic, pseudo-science following, trend-loving and unburdened-by-logic humans that can be imagined.

First off, let me say I hope to never be a part of someone getting seriously ill or worse through anything I prepare, whether it is "my fault" or not. Sort of a hippocratic oath, I suppose. My friend is nut allergic, and one time he showed up at a party where he wasn't originally going to attend. So I made turkey burgers with feta cheese and pine nuts. But surprise, he showed up, and he forgot to ask, and I didn't think about it. So of course he had the turkey burger and had a mild reaction. I felt terrible. Never want to go thru that again.

People have a very complex relationship with food. Many people have no discipline or willpower when it comes to food or certain foods. I have several friends who are lactose intolerant, yet will have ice cream from time to time, without lactaid pills, knowing full well what will happen to them later. People negotiate with themselves, and "treat" themselves to food, even if it has significant negative consequences. Or, "I know I shouldn't, but...." like they're getting away with something.

There are celiacs, there are people with real allergies and sensitivities. Myself, I have always loved mussels, I used to eat them without any issue, but for whatever reason in the last few years, I can't keep them down. If I'm cooking it, I can taste the sauce, but if I eat a mussel, it's bad news. Other mollusks, no issues at all - oysters, clams, limpets, shellfish, other seafood-no problems. So it's possible to have very narrow sensitivities/allergies.

On the other hand, people have learned to say that they are allergic to things because it gets more attention at restaurants (or in our case, catering). But as mentioned above, people often give in with varying proportions of anxiety of symptoms, possible discomfort and distress, fake guilt, real guilt, or no consequences at all.

People are surprised when they go on a voluntary gluten free diet and they lose 30 pounds. Wheat is a good chunk of the Western diet, so removing wheat removes whole categories of food, so of course they lose weight.

We did one party for an actor who made a big deal out of food being kosher-style and prepared in his kosher kitchen, and the other food being made out of his non-kosher kitchen. No problem. The servers were briefed that he is to be warned of all appetizers with any dairy, so as not to violate the beef and dairy rule, since he was planning to have steak. He had a fit at one point and demanded we go out and buy and prepare a separate kosher chicken for him. He ate all the appetizers. He ate the cheese course. He ate steak. He didn't touch the chicken. Broke all his own rules. Religion-based rules. Oh, well.

my favorite: a lady walks into my restaurant and say's " I am deathly allergic to onions but, My favorite dish is onion soup, can you strain out the onions for me? It will be alright my parents do it this way all the time." I say," get the hell out of here and don't come back", " If I ever see your parents I'm going to slap both of them!"

I live and work in LA, which is home to normal people, as well as some of the most unreasonable, entitled, narcissistic, pseudo-science following, trend-loving and unburdened-by-logic humans that can be imagined.

This is SO DAMN TRUE!!!

I know of other people that had adult onset allergies to shellfish. My former boss at the fish market I worked at years ago became had an allergic reaction to crab (naturally, after I made him a crabcake) after selling it, eating it for years. Another friend of mine had a horrible allergic reaction to scallops after enjoying them for years.

I developed a shellfish allergy in my late teens. It started with my lips swelling when eating some crab, and by the time I was around 22 I almost quit breathing after eating some shrimp flavored Top Ramen. I don't like mollusks, so I let people assume that I am allergic to them too!
And when I eat cilantro I break out in heeby jeebies!

Spike C
"The Buddha resides as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain."
Pirsig